Eusebius in his Church History Book VII Chapter 10 talks about the Valerian Persecution primarily using an older source named Dionysius. And Dionysus quotes Revelation 13:5 as being about this persecution.
The Decian Persecution was the first truly Empire wide persecution of Christians, but it didn’t last nearly 42 months. However the Decian Persecution did result in the Novatian Schism because it was the first time the Church had any significant Apostasy, making it possibly relevant to II Thessalonians 2.
This account of the Valerian Persecution also presents two possible False Prophet candidates. First the leader of “the Magi from Egypt” who definitely sounds like a Pagan mystic of some kind in-spite of the translation misleadingly using the word “Synagogue”. However another option is Macrianus who is likely the figure Wikipedia calls Macrianus Major who was placed in charge of the Economy under Valerian but was also a Military Commander according to the Historia Augusta. Macarianus’s two sons could be who the second beast’s two horns represent.
The rider on the White Horse or Red Horse could be Shapur I’s invasion of Syria. Or just the Red Horse with the White Horse being my Smyrna reading.
The Debasement of the Denarius and other Imperial Currencies greatly escalated during the mid 3rd Century which could explain the Black Horse.
The Plague of Cyprian could be connected to the Chlorus Horse.
Brining in my prior post arguing the Image of The Beast is his Son. That could be Gallienus who was a co-ruler during Valerian’s reign.
It is also known that at least some of the Martyrs during the Valerian Persecution were specifically Beheaded like Bishop Sixtus II of Rome on the 6th of August 258.
262 is the year Pergamon was sacked by Goths and destroyed in an Earthquake. An argument can be made that in a local scale interpretation of Revelation the city of Pergamon is Babylon (derivative of the Rome as Babylon argument because Pergamon was Rome within Asia as the Seat of Imperial Worship). This was the end of Pergamon as it was known to the original audience of Revelation.
The first ever Edict of Toleration directed mainly at ending a Persecution of Christian was actually the Edict of Gallienus which ended this Persecution. Now there is some dispute about the exact time of that Edict, some sources like Eusebius made it sound like it was made immediately after Valerian was captured by the Persians, but it seems more likely that some time did pass. If the initiation edict of Persecution was made in 258 then 42 months later would be in 261 or 262 and Dionysus said it was 42 months.
That would in this model be the beginning of The Baptism of The Beast.
